While the mad summer heat continued to pound the Arkansas River Valley this week, there is a chance — yes, a chance — of a bit of relief this weekend as the weatherman has predicted a 60 percent chance of rain Sunday and somewhat cooler temperatures on the horizon next week.

There is a smaller chance of rain today, a 30 percent possibility of afternoon heating showers late in the day, as day-time highs reach around 100-plus degrees in Russellville. Even without any rain on Sunday, forecasters at the National Weather Service in Little Rock said temps Sunday will just be in the low 90s. And the continued good news is that the forecast for the next weeks shows highs not getting above 94 any day.

When asked if Arkansas is returning to a normal pattern of hot days with temperatures in the mid-90 degree range and a chance of afternoon thunderstorms every day, NWS meteorologist Sean Clarke pointed out the state is usually fairly dry in July and August.

But yes, at least for the next week or two, we’ll experience some normal-like July temperatures rather than triple-degree temps that have dried up the River Valley in recent months, Clarke said.

“We do have a pretty good chance of some precipitation Sunday, especially on Sunday night and into Monday,” he said Friday morning while studying the forecast. “There is also a chance of a pop-up thunderstorm all around the state on Saturday.”

Clarke said the the southwest portion of Arkansas will most likely see more rain than central and northwest Arkansas each day this weekend. However, he stressed, this is the best chance of rain the area has had in quite some time.

When asked how much rain might fall in Russellville over the weekend, he hesitated, then said “from a half inch to maybe an inch.

“But that’s not enough to even start to provide any relief from the drought,” Clarke added.

The change in the region’s weather pattern comes as a ridge of high pressure that has sitting on top the state moves away, Clarke explained. That ridge had been basically in place for the past couple months causing weather systems that could have brought rain and cooler weather to the state to avoid the Natural State.

Clarke said at the beginning of summer, forecasters thought the ridge of high pressure would remain to the southwest of Arkansas while another ridge of high pressure would sit atop Georgia. This would have caused weather systems to flow between the two that would have allowed Arkansas to possibly have had a wetter and cooler late spring and early summer.

However, that didn’t come to pass and the result has been a hot, dry summer that came on the heels of a warm, dry winter.

Clarke also noted entering the new year, Arkansas was coming off a wet November and December, but then it dried up in January and the state never recovered with any real rainfall totals through the first six months of the year.